Sandals Barbados

Although we were stopping on the Royal Barbados side we thought we would submit a whistle stop review covering our experience with the Barbados side of the resort. We have already submitted a thorough review of the Royal and has already been published 15th August 2026. Although they are registered as two separate hotels, you can’t tell. There isn’t any physical border or boundary and is like a huge mega resort. Apart from your assigned accommodation you’re allowed to use the facilities of each hotel. This was one of the main reasons we booked this holiday. This was our 5th Sandals (previously been to St Lucia La Toc, Grenada, Curacao and St Vincent) and has become our favourite. The bars/watering holes and eateries are in abundance. It was good to be reunited with a pub as the previous 2 Sandals didn’t have one (Curacao and St Vincent). They had the same drinks as per St Lucia and Grenada i.e. bottles of Stella, bottles of Strongbow cider and cans of Guinness (plenty of Irish car bombs went down the hatch). The pub was quite a size and featured a snooker table and a pool table. We tried the English Sunday dinner and give it 10/10, the Yorkshire puddings were spot on and were crispy, light and fluffy, the gravy was authentic too. We just need to say a massive thanks to David who was one of the food and beverage managers. We got talking to him one afternoon outside the pub and he was intrigued why we were putting cassis in our cider. We told him that we love cider and black (black is short for black current cordial/squash) and because they don’t have any blackcurrant cordial/squash available it’s the next best thing. After returning to the pub on the evening the bartender presented a carton of Ribena for us. He said David had managed to get his hands on a carton so we could have our pint of cider and black. We were absolutely overjoyed with this lovely gesture. This happened on our last night, and David wasn’t there on the evening so we couldn’t thank him in person. We told the bar tender to thank him, and we also said we would thank him in our review and on GINA– thanks again David xx The restaurants on the Barbados side were all fantastic and all complimented by a hard-working dedicated crew. Not sure if it’s just this resort or if it’s just recently been introduced but Sandals seem to have changed the a la carte reservation system and applied limits to the number of visits allowed (were no limits last year). They said this has been changed to allow other guests a chance of visiting the restaurants that require reservations. You are therefore only allowed 1 visit per a la carte restaurant per week (so 4 a week as there are 4 restaurants that require reservations). On the first week we did all 4 but on the second week we only did 2 (didn’t want a repeat visit to Fusion or the French). We asked if we could do the two Butches again in lieu of not wanting to visit the Fusion/French but weren’t allowed. We went to Fusion one night and they were serving bottles of Japanese Kirin beer. We looked at Dino’s pizza menu prior to arrival, and the menu was different to the other Sandals ones, most of the choices we weren’t keen on. When we ordered at Dino’s we seen that they have the other pizzas choices on the order form, the one we loved from the previous Sandals i.e. the meat lovers. We normally got a pizza about 5ish (closed at 6pm) and we had to wait about 15-20 minutes which wasn’t long. Each pizza was so tasty and perfectly crafted. One thing we noticed was the dress code in the a la cartes weren’t being adhered to, and plenty of male guests wearing shorts. Sandals might as well ditch the trouser dress code. Building work is ongoing on blocks 17 and 18 which did impact our stay by removing access to certain elements of 3 restaurants. Our review on the Royal side does into more detail but the work isn’t aesthetically pleasing to the eye, is very noisy and removed the element of having breakfast at the French Restaurant (Royal side) as it was closed due to the noisy construction work (we weren’t informed of this and was showing as being open on the app), Spices was closed completely (Barbados side) and although they said the French breakfast menu was being put on alternatively in Scrimshaws (Barbados side) we turned up to Scrimshaws and it was closed (even though we were told it would be open) also due to the work that was going on in Spices. Pools/beach - there are an excellent selection of pools at this resort catering for everyone’s needs. The direction of the sun rose from where the airport is and went directly over so that it set just where Butches on the Barbados side is. As with the other Sandals we have visited the towel cabinets are plentiful, all fully stocked and replenished by the attentive pool lads. All the pools were open during our visit. It does take the weight off when you don’t need to get up the crack of dawn to reserve a sunbed. The sand was just as good as we remembered it when we last visited Barbados in 2019, white, fluffy and soft. You literally have to walk down to the shoreline to see any of the seaweed even then it’s just a small amount, there was no seaweed on the main beach itself. There was plenty of sunbeds on the beaches too. They didn’t have the yellow floating rings like they had in Curacao or St Vincent, so we missed them. We also loved the tubing that they did in St Vincent but didn’t do it here. The Groundsmen keep both sites beautifully maintained. The hygiene attendants /clean team also did a cracking job with keeping all the areas such as bins, floors and toilets all nip and clean. Although it features on the Royal side it’s just to make guests of the Barbados side aware that there is a daily hotdog stall outside lovers’ lane 12pm to 2pm. Lovers Lane also features the following international beers - Barbados brew house mahogany bay stout, Brew house Round rock IPA, Belgium Duvel, Canada Molson Canadian pale lager, Germany Becks, Paulaner Hefe Weiss, Italy Peroni, Netherlands Grolsch, USA – Anchor Steam, Blue Moon, Sam Adams Boston Lager, Shiner Rock, Sierra Nevada, Jamaica Red Stripe and Mexico Pacifico. Please note that the international drinks in stock will be presented on the bowling alley bar, if one of the beers on the list isn’t on the bar then it isn’t available. We loved our stay and would return in a heart beat, thanks to all the staff who worked on the Barbados side

My new husband and I got married on the resort last week and spent 10 days at the resort. I can't say enough amazing things about this resort. From the time we arrived to the time we left our experience was completely stress free, amazing down time, most friendly staff and overall the best vacation we have ever had. The wedding planners were so professional along with photographer, video and staff top notch and our pictures were gorgeous. You have access to both resorts, Sandals Barbados and Royal Barbados so you will never run out of things to do, do everything or nothing and still have the best time! The room was not like a hotel room but a bedroom away from home, just gorgeous and so kept up. Every area of the room including the bathroom were perfect. Highly recommend the Candlelight dinner, the Red Lane Spa massages, and they did my make up and hair. Amazing experience. Very clean all over the resort including the room.

We wanted to write a review to commend the manager, and his team, at Butch’s Chophouse. It was so very well managed and a true 5-star experience: from the initial greeting; service; ambience and presentation/quality of the food right through to the signature cocktail. This doesn’t just happen by chance and to our family, our experience at your restaurant stood out for all the right reasons. Hardly a surprise therefore that it is difficult to secure a reservation. Visitors please make sure that you book in early: trust us, you won’t be disappointed. Staff: keep doing what you’re doing: it really is top-notch. Thank you.

We visited Sandals Royal Barbados for our honeymoon for 2 weeks and it was the most incredible experience! Upon arrival, we were greeted by people who took our suitcases from us to our rooms and told we had been given a complimentary upgrade to a Rondoval Suite for our honeymoon. The room was stunning, such a personal, intimate space for us and we had visits from housekeeping around 3 times each day. They turned down the bed every night for us and kept our minibar well stocked. The staff were so extremely friendly across the whole site on the royal side and Barbados side. From the bar staff, to restaurant staff, entertainment team and housekeeping! The food was outstanding, so many options to choose from and the cafes were also so delicious. We loved that there were also so many options of where to sunbathe because obviously you have access to both hotels so felt like so many different choices. We loved the infinity pool most of all and there was one particular man (sadly don’t know his name) but he was incredible with looking after the pool and keeping the area around it in great condition. The piano bar was a firm favourite for us! Dale was very experienced and this was very evidence because every night would be different songs based on the crowd he had. We also loved the white party which had a silent disco every Wednesday; such a fun time! The weather was so nice every day, there was a few rainy spells but literally for about 10 minutes and then the sun came back out again. We were very grateful for the helpful staff at the Island Routes desk as she helped us book excursions! We visited Harrison’s cave which was so much fun; and also did an island keep safari and the tour guide was very knowledgeable! We also felt so lucky to see the monkeys on the resort, and again, the staff knew the exact time and location we’d be able to see them and were so lovely! The beachfront was also such a lovely place too. We kept hearing lots of people saying about the seaweed and yes there was a build up every now and then but the staff were on top of removing this as often as they could! It was the most wonderful holiday we have ever had and would 100% recommend this resort! We’d love to visit again!

Hotel is 3* only . Room run down and not kept clean . No fresh towels 3 nights running and room not made up one day . After a day at the beach we had to get swimming pool towels for our room . Building work right outside our room and lorry/van noise at 7 am waking us up . Restaurant staff miserable and felt they didn’t want to be at work . We must praise the manager of butches as we had a disappointing meal due to transfer to American tavern which does not have the same atmosphere. He made a reservation back at butches for us before he flew out the country and apologised for the poor service .bathroom dirty and big crack in the bottom of the bath . This was our 3rd visit to this hotel but won’t be back for a 4th .